The mayor’s right-hand woman was in cuffs, while Adams was taking part in a ridiculous perp walk that played out more like a glamor shot for a murderer. Hizzoner’s friend and ally in the NYPD, who Adams has gone to bat for again and again over charges of abusing his authority, resigned after being accused of using overtime to coerce a subordinate into sex. Even as there were two more terrible train murders on Sunday, Adams laid low. As the hits keep coming for an historically unpopular mayor who...
Dec 24, 2024•34 min
Author and veteran columnist Amy Sohn talks with Harry Siegel about her book, The Man Who Hated Women: Sex, Censorship, and Civil Liberties in the Gilded Age, and explains why the “zombie” Comstock Law still on the federal books kept coming up during 2024’s presidential election. Sohn details how the lives of two “sex radicals,” Ida Craddock and Sarah Chase, were upended as they crossed paths with Anthony Comstock, the mutton-chopped celebrity behind the New York Society for the Suppression of V...
Dec 20, 2024•58 min
The mayor says he’s the same as he’s ever was even as his closest allies have left under fire and he’s executing what Trump’s incoming border czar says is “a complete 180” on immigration. In the last regular episode of 2024, hosts Chrissy and Harry discuss the mayor's maneuvering — "I don't know if the mayor is purging his old crew, or if his old crew is purging themselves before they have to perjure themselves." They also dig into the unprecedented number of car crashes following police pursuit...
Dec 16, 2024•34 min
Just after Katie Honan and Harry Siegel recorded on Monday morning, a jury acquitted Daniel Penny of negligent homicide, the NYPD found the man they believe shot down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and the City Council sued the mayor for declaring a state of emergency rather than implement the solitary confinement ban they passed into law. Ahead of all that, the hosts dug into how Trumpworld is reportedly laughing at a“Thirsty” Eric Adams, the limits of the mayor’s new “cancel me” appeal a...
Dec 09, 2024•25 min
Eric Adams seems to think so, and that Trump’s victory proves the left has lost its way. FAQ hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discuss the mayor’s solid political instincts and his dubious press strategy, why he’s still talking about Andrew Yang, and much more.
Dec 02, 2024•32 min
Why was Mayor Eric Adams swearing in Jessica Tisch as his fourth police commissioner in not even three years on Monday? FAQ hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discuss the historic turnover from an historically unpopular mayor, Rep. Ritchie Torrees' prospective challenge of Gov. Kathy Hochul, and much more. Plus, Katie digs into the Brooklyn diocese and the church that (sort of) tied together Sabrina Carpenter and Eric Adams.
Nov 26, 2024•28 min
She’s joined for this one by author Joel Kotkin, the Roger Hobbs Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University and director of its Center for Demographics and Policy as well as senior research fellow at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas in Austin. He’s been asking the same question for decades, highlighting Americans’ demonstrated preference for suburban life and the waning of “urban supremacy.” The two dig into New York City at the latest of its many historic crossro...
Nov 23, 2024•39 min
Eric Adams and Kathy Hochul have been tight to this point but the two centrist Democratic executives seem to be taking different approaches to dealing publicly and perhaps also privately with Donald Trump, who the mayor just hung out with at the UFC title fight at Madison Square Garden. FAQ NYC hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel talk about that and much more, including the evidently widening space between the electorate and the people they’ve elected in New York.
Nov 18, 2024•32 min
It wasn’t a secret that Trump could be president again, or that his plans — starting with a mass deportation push — would have a huge impact on our New York City. So what are there so few specifics about what City Hall and others plan to do in response? FAQ NYC hosts Christina Greer, Harry Siegel and Katie Honan discuss that, park fires, Weiner’s return talk and much more from another jam-packed week in New York City .
Nov 11, 2024•33 min
Guest Ben Max joins hosts Christina Greer and Harry Siegel to start sifting through what Donald Trump’s win and Republican gains in the city mean for New Yorkers, Mayor Eric Adams and next year’s elections here as there's red all across the deep blue city. . They also discuss the stages of mourning, a grandma’s advice, the difference between a socialist and a dentist and much more.
Nov 07, 2024•57 min
In the calm just before the election-day storm, hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discuss the screaming match at the Marathon, reportedly over a photo op, between the police commissioner and his newly appointed chief of staff still doing double duty as the department's (reporter loathing) press secretary.. They also talk about subway surfing and the NYPD's ongoing efforts to use drones to try and stop that, handing out beers to marathon runners, and much more.
Nov 04, 2024•32 min
Hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discuss Trump's last days rally in his old Manhattan stomping grounds, and the mayor's defense of the president and the president's public praise of the mayor that's sure to re-circulate in 20025 ads from the Democrats running to replace him. They also discuss the NYPD's usual suspects who still seem to be the public face of the department rather than the interim commissioner who vowed the police would be speaking with one voice now, the rapper...
Oct 28, 2024•26 min
Sasha Ahuja, the campaign director of New Yorkers for Equal Rights, makes the case for voting "yes" on Proposition 1 — and explains what the update to the state constitution would and would not do. Then hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discuss whether it's too soon to count out Eric Adams as a mayoral candidate, and the coming ticker tape parade for the Liberty after they brought New York its first basketball championship since 1976 and Brooklyn its first sports championship s...
Oct 21, 2024•38 min
In the midst of a great season for New York sports, Eric Adams is racing to rebuild his organization on the fly while investigators are closing in on him and his inner circle. Is there some reason to trust the process now that most of the top officials recently raided by the FBI have been pushed out, while more public service minded officials are being placed in top positions? Hosts Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discuss that, the exhaustion of raking all this muck, why New Yorkers have been so so...
Oct 14, 2024•34 min
The Adams administration departures are happening at a pace the podcast can’t match. Hosts Christina Greer and Katie Honan dig into Monday morning’s news about Phil Banks’ exit—but recorded too soon to cover the resignation of Winnie Greco and the firing of Rana Abbasova. Chrissy and Katie did also discuss who would want to board the Titanic right now, how city politics became “a non-stop soap opera,” the “interesting spot” Gov. Kathy Hochul finds herself in as Adams cleans house at her firm req...
Oct 07, 2024•24 min
Co-hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discuss the high court’s ruling in June that public servants are free to accept gratuities in exchange for their public actions, which the mayor’s attorneys brought up Monday in a motion to dismiss the charges against him. Plus, the pod digs into a new poll conducted just before the mayor was charged that shows New Yorkers overwhelmingly disapprove of his job performance, whether the city can still function while Mayor Adams fights the charg...
Sep 30, 2024•25 min
For the first time, New York City’s sitting mayor is now a criminal defendant — one who says the 57-page case against him is a pack of “lies” and that the federal government and the city’s permanent powers are trying to bring him down for doing right by New Yorkers. In an “emergency” episode marking this historical moment, Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel dig into the case against the mayor, his public defense, where the city looks to be going from here, how the example of Donald Tr...
Sep 26, 2024•32 min
Venture capitalist and political strategist Bradley Tusk joins hosts Christina Greer and Harry Siegel to discuss his new book, Vote With Your Phone: Why Mobile Voting Is Our Final Shot at Saving Democracy, proposing a tech solution to the seemingly intractable problem of low-turnout local elections leading to ever-more radical politics. And Tusk, who’s a supporter of the podcast, digs into the mess Eric Adams has made for himself, and how the mayor could still dig his away out of it. That starts...
Sep 23, 2024•43 min
The hits keep coming as Eric Adams' chief counsel walked away, effective immediately, on Saturday night, an associate director of a mayor's office got fired after he allegedly told a business member to pay off the former police commissioner's brother, two former FDNY chiefs just got charged with corruption, another Democrat launched a run again the mayor and a Republican announced his plan to run if Adams can'f finish his term. Hosts Christina Greer and Harry Siegel talk about all that, and how ...
Sep 16, 2024•34 min
The FBI raided the homes of Eric Adams' closest allies last week in what look to be two new federal investigations of the mayor and his inner circle altogether, making four . This isn't normal and it isn't good, but the mayor — comparing himself to the biblical character Job — says he's done nothing wrong, stands by his police commissioner who just his phones seized, and is going to stay focused and keep grinding on behalf of New Yorkers. Hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discu...
Sep 09, 2024•29 min
Hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel dig into the mayor’s insistence on seeing through the nomination of a chief lawyer for the city even after lawmakers made it clear they wouldn’t approve his nominee. They also discuss what a second Trump administration would mean for New York, the possibility of a strong challenge to Gov. Kathy Hochul from within the Democratic party, what's wrong with journalists who "discover" news after reading about it in other people’s reporting, and much ...
Sep 03, 2024•27 min
Hosts Christina Greer and Katie Honan discuss Mayor Eric Adams’ low profile at the DNC in Chicago, the so-called Central Park Five’s powerful appearance there, and why it’s good that Beryoncé didn’t show up after all. They also dig into the city’s surge in COVID cases, the latest death of a detainee at Rikers and, speaking of Central Park, RFK Jr.’s bizarre shaggy bear story.
Aug 26, 2024•25 min
Hosts Katie and Harry discuss the federal investigations into Mayor Eric Adams, at least of one which appears to headed to either charges or its end soon, and why those matter even if "ordinary" New Yorkers mostly don't care. They also dig into the NYC subplots of this week's Democratic Convention in the Second City, George Santos' guilty plea, stranded air travelers, weekend beach closures, what to expect from protesters in the Fall, and more.
Aug 19, 2024•22 min
In the debut episode of Lit NYC, the FAQ NYC Podcast Network's off-cycle show covering books, art, music and more, you'll be hearing from Ross Perlin, author of the brilliant Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues, and co-director of the Endangered Languages Alliance. He sat down at the Alliance's office in Manhattan to talk with Haidee Chu, Queens reporter for The City and a native Cantonese speaker, and monolingual Harry Siegel, to discuss his work mapping the languages...
Aug 17, 2024•44 min
The New Yorkest podcast takes a minute to shout out the New Yorker article about us, and the mayor, and then to fill listeners on the upcoming LIT NYC, which will be the new home of arts, books, culture, music and more coverage while FAQ NYC sticks to politics. After that, hosts Chrissy, Katie and Harry get down to business, talking about another bizarre week of bad headlines about Mayor Eric Adams' friends in the NYPD brass, including Yaov Gonan's latest report in The City about the commissione...
Aug 12, 2024•34 min
The public advocate joins FAQ NYC for an extended interview about how "the law-and-order mayor chooses not to follow the laws that are passed," the very different conversations he used to have with Borough President Eric Adams, the merits of ranked-choice voting and much more. That includes Williams’ view of why “if anybody had a mandate, it wasn't him. It was the rest of us” who were elected at the same time “with a very different vision of public safety.”
Aug 05, 2024•44 min
Hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discuss some of the news from another jam-packed week in New York City, including the big march in support of the Council member who allegedly bit a cop and NYPD chief of patrol Jeffrey Maddrey getting off the hook on the latest charges against him for allegedly abusing his authority in an incident first reported by THE CITY. They also dig into the emergency order the mayor issued this weekend suspending parts of a new law intended to end solit...
Jul 29, 2024•29 min
Hosts Chrissy, Katie and Harry discuss the national news, what the Democratic Party's shakeup — and a second Trump term — could mean for New York City, and much more from this unprecedented presidential moment.
Jul 22, 2024•42 min
The 2025 campaign just unofficially kicked off with new fundraising numbers, and NYC could be in for a wild game of musical chairs. Hosts Christina Greer and Harry Siegel discuss that and a national political moment that makes it hard for most New Yorkers to think about a primary that's just 11 months away and seems likely to be a rare competitive race against a sitting Democratic mayor.
Jul 15, 2024•32 min
Hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discuss The Rev. Al Sharpton’s op-ed making the case for a second term for the city’s second Black mayor and much more.
Jul 09, 2024•25 min
